Neuroscience Research Displayed During Poster Competition

Five UM students present award-winning entries at recent event

APRIL 11, 2019 BY EDWIN B. SMITH

Participants in the UM Neuroscience Research Showcase poster competition examine and discuss their presentations. Submitted photo

The recent Neuroscience Research Showcase and Brain Awareness Week events at the University of Mississippi included a poster competition that brought out the best and brightest students to shine light on neurosciences and other related fields.

Eighteen graduate and undergraduate students presented posters as part of the Neuroscience Research Showcase. Associated seminars included talks on sex change in fish and the effects of drug addiction on the human brain.

“All of the presentations were extraordinary,” said Lainy Day, associate professor of biology and director of the neuroscience minor in the College of Liberal Arts. “I want to thank all of the neuroscience faculty and students for participating.”

Three categories of competition were featured: graduate research, undergraduate research and, new this year, a proposal/lab category that allowed students to review the work done in their lab that leads into their proposed future research.

Christopher Hill, a doctoral student in health, exercise and recreation management from Oxford, won first place in the graduate category for his poster examining “Differing Roles Of Reward And Punishment Feedback During Motor Learning.” Chyna-Rae Dearman, a doctoral candidate in biology from Ecru, placed second for her entry, “No Sex Differences in Spatial Memory Ability or Response to Aromatase Inhibition after Cerebellar Lesion in Zebra Finches.”

In undergraduate research, first place went to Nikki Sullivan, of Birmingham, Alabama, a junior biology major with minors in neuroscience, psychology and chemistry, for her poster on “Time Course Effects of Repetitive Intermittent Stress on a Prefrontal Cortex-Dependent Cognitive Flexibility Task.” Barrett Aldridge, of Puckett, a senior biology major with a neuroscience minor, won second place.

Erik Hodges, a doctoral candidate in pharmaceutical sciences from Norman, Oklahoma, won the proposal/lab category for his presentation on “Aging, Circadian Rhythms and Cannabinoids.”

“The College of Liberal Arts is very proud of the work done by both students and faculty during Brain Awareness Week in particular and throughout the year in general,” said Donald Dyer, associate dean for faculty and academic affairs in the College of Liberal Arts.

“The presentation of posters by students at the recent Neuroscience Showcase was an exciting way to see what students engaging in this discipline are thinking and doing. It also demonstrated how the various disciplines represented in the neuroscience minor offered by the college can come together to deepen our understanding of science in pursuit of addressing the world’s challenges.”